Undue Prolongation Of Seances

There is a great temptation to young mediums to allow their enthusiasm,
and desire to aid in demonstrating spiritualistic phenomena, to cause
them to prolong their seances far beyond the limits which prudence and
regard for the medium's physical well-being would dictate. There is a
certain stimulation and excitement arising from the manifestation of
phenomena through the medium, and this in itself is helpful rather than
hurtful--a tonic rather than a depressant; but like all other forms of
overindulgence, and excessive yielding to this excitement tends to bring
on a reaction and a swing to the opposite emotional extreme, and the
medium suffers thereby in many cases. There comes a time in all seances
when the high-water mark of psychic power is reached, and this is a good
time for the medium to bring the seance to a close--in fact, experienced
mediums do precisely this very thing at this particular time. But this
point once passed, there is experienced a peculiar weakening and
depressing feeling, this often being accompanied by a physical weariness
and a feeling of chilliness in the extremities, or even a slight chilly
feeling over the whole body. When these feelings are experienced, the
medium should remember that the limit of reason has been passed, and he
should bring matters to a close without further loss of time.
Experienced spirits will usually detect the approach of the reaction
time, and will, themselves, bring the seance to a close, independent of
any action on the part of the medium. But when the spirits are not
experienced, they fail to notice this, or even may become careless about
such things in their desire to communicate to the circle. In the latter
cases, the medium must take care of himself.